Adjusting
by Sistemann
Summary: A series of one-shots, either coming from the movie in the form of scene expansions, or after the movie as the Croods adjust to life with Guy being a part of it. The formation of relationships between one and other is always forged through time, and slowly, everyone begins to adjust to the new life they now are a part of. Possible romance chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own _The Croods_.

_So having enjoyed the movie so much, I've decided to just do a few one-shot chapters of different things from the movie. There were a LOT of moments I saw that could have some huge explanation behind them. Guy himself... I can connect a lot to his character, and although that's not good, it's helpful in writing. His feelings; I can kind of understand them. _

_Plus, there's some great lines that can be evolved into so much more. So this little novel is just a small expansion on movie moments. I can't promise they'll be great, but... hey, maybe you'll enjoy them! If you have any requests, lay them on me, I hope to be able to do some! Other than that, just review and fav! No flaming, sorry, I'm just not a big fan of tearing someone down._

_Other than that... just enjoy! And if I make any mistakes, do feel free to let me know. My big issue is keeping everyone in-character and that's hard, seeing as how they're cavemen and a cro-magnon. So I will do my best to try and keep them away from being too simplistic or too modern, but also naive and all that jazz._

_Enjoy the first segment! This first chapter isn't the greatest but... it's just meant to kinda get things rolling.  
_

* * *

_Just How Long?_

_Character(s) included: Guy, Belt_

_Theme: Angst/Hurt/Comfort_

_Time: After Film_

'_Mommy? Daddy? Wh-where are you?' _

* * *

Guy's eye twitched. It didn't open, however.

* * *

_'Follow the sun, Guy. It'll lead you to tomorrow.'_

* * *

Follow... follow the light. Where there is light, however, there is darkness. And it was so dark. So very dark.

* * *

_Through the fields he ran, his legs desperately pumping beneath his body, trying to put as much distance between him and his pursuer as possible. His lungs began to burn with the lack of oxygen he was getting, despite his ferocious breathing. His eyesight was bobbing up and down, side to side as he tried to find a safe haven to cower in.  
_

_Something to get him away from his inevitable death._

_A low growl pierced the land, scaring the small boy even more. Adrenaline- a substance he didn't know flowed through his veins- seemed to almost merge with his blood as he felt the burning sensation of the lactic acid in his muscles. His feet, raw with walking through the day, began to crack and bleed mercilessly as he pounded through the terrain. Rocks and bones broke the skin, tinting it brown as his blood tinted the ground red. _

_Tears began to mix with sweat as he felt his spirit crumbling. He could keep running, but to where? He'd never escape the predator. He'd never get away- he was a goner, and both parties knew it._

_It was just a waiting game, now._

_"Please, no. Please... no!" His chant was barely a whisper, but it wasn't for anyone to hear. It wasn't to plead with the large beast that teased his life- it was for his sanity. It was the reminder for his legs that he was the only thing keeping him alive. If he stopped- **if he**_** quit**- _he'd die. _

_Blurred with the sweat and tears, his altered eyesight caught the darkness of what could only be described as a crack in the crevice. It wasn't big- it barely looked big enough for a small animal, let alone him. But it was his only chance to escape. So he didn't waste a moment._

_It didn't matter that the ground tore through the thin fabric he had on his legs, nor that his skin- despite being tough- shredded under the cracked and drought dried dirt. He slid into the small cavern in the large mountain-like landmark, and hid in the farthest back portion. He did his best to calm his breathing and be as quiet as possible, but his breathing was hitched and the pain shooting up his leg was almost too great for him to remain silent. _

_Almost._

_The beast that had chased him stopped just outside the entrance. Its loud sniffing made it obvious that it had yet to give up on its search. A glowing yellow eye appeared just at the entrance, but just as it locked eye-contact with him, it decided the hunt was no long worth it, having heard the caw of a new, closer and larger prey. Bolting, it abandon the scene, leaving as if nothing had ever happened._

_Once it was safe, he broke down. Tears fell freely, staining the ground. He cried, silently begging for his mother, or father. Silently begging for someone to save him from his death._

_The young boy, no older than 6 years old, pulled himself into the rock and curled into a small ball, because he knew, he was all alone._

_And he knew he'd be that way for a long, long time._

* * *

Guy huddled against the rock, throwing his lean frame against the solid surface and pulling his body into a small ball. The closer he pulled his legs to his chest, the farther away from the world he felt. The farther away from _reality _he felt.

_'How long have you been alone?'_

He winced; a sharp pain flowing through his brain. It almost made him vomit.

Had he done that, there was little doubt that even more worry would have overtaken him, because he most likely would have assumed it was the Common Cold, and that, he realized, he was incapable of fighting off and getting supplies to help cure. Essentially; he would have panicked and killed himself without actually being sick.

And that would have been... bad.

Slowly, Guy felt the tremor that shook his body slowly come to a stand-still, and his 'brain' seemed to come back to life. He quickly wished it hadn't come back, though.

"How... long..." Guy muttered to himself. His voice was strained and seemed to choke a bit as he whispered, but thankfully, the nobody was awake to hear him. Eep was completely out of it, sleeping on the other side of the sleep pile. She may have grown closer to the family, but she sometimes still had obvious spats with Grug. It was a thankful thing she recently had one, or Guy realized he might have woken her up.

Still though, his mind was not on the sleep pile, or even Eep for once.

He couldn't remember how long he'd been alone for.

But he could still remember the question.

'_Eep looked at him after his theatrical display of how his marvelous 'trap' worked, but her face wasn't quite as impressed as it had been when he'd brought the fire back to full strength. This time, her face was contorted into a more concerned look, with a bit of confusion mixed in as well._

_"How long have you been alone...?" She asked carefully. Guy didn't let his face betray it- but the question struck him blindly. She couldn't possibly know he was truly alone, right? She- a cavewoman- couldn't know that his whole family was dead... that wasn't possible. He hadn't said anything- he hadn't SHOWN anything. She couldn't know._

_It was thankful that Belt was there for assistance. He held out his long arms as far as they could stretch apart, partially to try and make light of the situation, but partially, to try and ease the fact into both Eep AND Guy. The sloth knew he could sometimes... bury away information like that._

_Guy went on to talk about his trap more, but the question didn't leave his mind.'_

And it had yet to, even now. It had been... many, many, _many_, seasons. He couldn't even count, now that he considered it. And the more he thought about it, the less he wanted to remember.

"How... how long?" Guy closed his eyes tightly, containing the tears. "Alone... for how long..."

"Da?"

Guy froze. Slowly, making sure no liquid escaped his eyes, he opened a single eye and looked around for the source of the noise.

"Hm!" It came again, this time, a slight bit louder. But Guy knew exactly what it was now.

He looked down, drying his eyes in the process, to see a concerned looking Belt. The sloth was obviously worried about his companion, not only because he was coiled up, but because it was easy for the animal to see his emotional trauma he was trying to endure. Alone.

"Oh, Belt!" Guy made sure to keep his voice a whisper, as to avoid waking a person. "I, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

The sloth didn't seem to care about that, however. Slowly, it raised a clawed hand to Guy's hairline, and ran a claw though the messy dark brown locks. Though some stuck to his forehead with sweat, the rest cleanly parted with the claw. Belt repeated this motion, climbing up Guy's body as he slowly straightened his body out.

Resting on his shoulders, Belt wrapped himself around Guy's neck loosely, as to avoid suffocating the teen, but also tight enough to provide him warmth- and also remind Guy that he was not alone.

Guy sighed. "Thanks, Belt. I... I needed that."

Belt didn't respond- not verbally. He ran his clawed hand through Guy's hair, doing his best to comfort him. Guy picked up on the coaxing vibe that Belt was giving off, however, when he looked at Belt. He wanted him to explain why he was upset- Guy just wasn't sure if he could do it.

"I just... had a bad dream," Guy finished lamely. He looked into Belt's large turquoise eyes and could immediately tell that wouldn't sate the sloth's curiosity. He wanted _detail_. Guy sighed again. "Back before you and me... I was running from something. And I got hurt... but it was one of the first times I got stuck in the dark. I got scared and thought I was going to die. It was the first time I learned why I needed to follow the light."

Guy felt a pang of fear creep into his body as he recalled the bad memory. Even now, as a teenager, he knew that he would be just as prone. Even though he had infinite more knowledge of the world than the Croods did, for example, he knew he couldn't fight off everything. He wasn't as invincible as they all thought.

Belt squeaked and pulled himself against Guy's warm torso. His fur brushed against the thick skin, but the feeling reminded Guy of the first time the two of them met. Slowly, Guy 'hugged' back, just like he witnessed Grug and Eep do.

"Thanks... for not letting me be alone in the past, Belt." A tear touched Belt's fur. "Thank you so much."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still don't own jack. Or the Croods.

* * *

_Apology _

_Character(s) Included: Grug, Ugga_

_Themes: Family_

If Grug was totally, brutally and undeniably honest with himself, he felt just a smidgen bad for trying to kill, punch and damage Guy every time they came within five feet of one another. Even if that smidgen was hidden beneath layers and layers of desire to kill, punch and damage.

Why did he feel like he had to hurt him?

At first, it was obvious that Guy was _new_. He didn't _look_ the same as his family did (or as he did, but he didn't often see himself), he didn't talk the same as they did, and he certainly didn't smell the way they did. He was different in almost every aspect that he cared about- and he knew that new was bad. So, by extension, that made him bad, too.

Protecting his family from the new came first. So Guy was officially on his 'watch-list'.

But, as time passed and Guy became more known to the family, it was clear that he was slipping off that list of being considered 'new', and thus, he could not longer be watched. Well, he _could_, but there'd be a bit less leniency from the family if he were to accidentally hurt Guy. Especially since he was becoming the primary reason for their survival.

But, make no mistake, it wasn't that Gurg hated Guy. By no means did the father _hate_ the teenager. It was just...

He couldn't miss the way Eep longingly stared at Guy- both when he wasn't looking _and _when he was looking. As a father, Grug felt the safety-threat detector going off again. This time, though, it was only for Eep- no one else. And he knew Eep wasn't even in danger, persay.

She was beginning to... fall for the boy.

Grug was no idiot when it came to feelings. He'd been exposed to those _love_ feelings before. There was once a girl before Ugga- a strong, fierce warrior that put even Grug's mother to shame (and she'd been no pushover). But, as quickly as those feelings arose, they were quenched when that warrior was traded to another family, far off and away from Grug. He'd never evened learned her name.

But that wasn't important.

Point being, Grug knew that what he and Ugga had was love- they had displayed such a feat by successfully siring three kids. He felt as if it was his job to protect Ugga- and his family- from harm whenever there was even the slightest chance they could be exposed to danger. He refused to let them die on his watch.

So when Eep began to get a gleam in her eye, and a faraway look when her eyesight was directly sighted on Guy, well, Grug _had _to step in. It was his job as a father. He had to protect her.

Thus, he did what any cave-father would do. He tried to physically assault the much smaller male and assert dominance, along with demanding respect and authority (which, Guy had unconsciously been taking).

What he didn't count on, was that he failed in asserting those traits, and instead, came to be a giant... animal, to Guy. Instead of protecting Eep and bringing her closer, he'd went and driven her away more.

He sighed aloud, unconsciously, as he thought more and more about his actions.

"What now, Grug," Ugga huffed. She hadn't missed her husband's mopy attitude. From the second the kids, along with Gran, disappeared to go play in the water, his face had morphed into a sad, mopy face that Ugga knew eventually she'd have to solve. These tendencies to fall into a mopy mood had usually resulted in Grug ranting about something that Eep wasn't doing, or, like the instance after the maze-caves, how Guy was an inconvenience to them.

She didn't expect him to shrug her off like it was nothing, though.

"Don't worry about it," Grug muttered. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable telling his mate, but she didn't seem particularly pleased with him at the moment. "Just, enjoy the silence."

Ugga raised an eyebrow; ever since their escape from 'The End', Grug had displayed a large amount of self-restraint in worrying about the kids. In fact, he almost seemed _happy _to get some quiet time from them, from time to time. And that wasn't usually like him.

"I will; but only if you can, too," Ugga said, softer this time. She figured she could at least make an attempt to keep the peace. "You can tell me if something's bothering you. Is it Eep?"

Grug shuffled against the tree they were sitting against. "It's not... _exactly _her..."

Ugga shifted her position so that she was pressed against Grug's much larger arm. She sighed, but looked him directly in the eyes- not as a challenge, but as a trust-offer. "You can tell me," she urged.

"I feel... like a bad father," Grug said lamely. "Like I messed up."

Ugga did her best to avoid looking at him strangely. "What do you mean?"

Grug sighed and leaned his head against Ugga's shoulder. "I always figured that when Eep wasn't listening, it was because she just... didn't care. Or that, maybe, I wasn't proving to be a good protector. I never thought... the way she did. I didn't try to think like her."

Ugga snorted quietly. "I don't think _any _of us thought before Guy."

"That, too." Grug chuckled once, but felt his spirits lower again. "We weren't really living, were we?"

The question came as a bit of a surprise to Ugga, but nonetheless, she wasn't taken aback by it. She glanced over at her mate, studying his face. Between his hard jaw, set in worry, and his eyes that contained both the fear that he had been wrong for so many years, along with the underlying regret of something else, it wasn't hard to see that he actually cared. He actually wanted the truth.

"We were, though. It wasn't... fun, but it wasn't like we really knew any better. It was pretty simple- do what you had to in order to live. I'd say that was as close to living as we could manage."

Grug gave a small, appreciative smile, but couldn't help the feeling like he still had limited his children immensely. Though, he recognized the truth in Ugga's words.

"But that's not all," Ugga abruptly said. Her hazel eyes were calculating and set- she wanted more. "Is it?"

Grug scratched his neck and readjusted his skins. "I was... hard on Guy. Really hard. From the first moment I met him, I was hard on him."

"You don't remember meeting my father, do you?" Ugga asked with a ghost of a smile playing at her lips. Grug couldn't help the small smile that graced his own, as well, as he felt his chest expand at seeing his mate's playful smile on her tanned face. "If I'm right, he tried to smash a rock on your head, and then fight you all in the first few days of knowing you."

Grug chuckled. "Yeah, he didn't seem to like me much... it took about six rocks before he accepted me."

"It was about ten- you just don't remember those because you ended up passed out," Ugga joked lightly. Grug rubbed his head, as if remembering the impact like it was only a moon ago. "And remember what he said to you after he accepted you?"

Grug smiled wider, exposing his filed teeth. "'I want strong grandchildren- don't screw this up.'"

"Exactly," Ugga laughed. "You were tough, but only because you _had _to be. He was new, but more than that... Eep's your little girl. But even she's going to grow up eventually."

Grug's smile turned sad as he stared off past the forest canopy. The sun, slowly, began to sink into the sea that was barely visible past the forest clearing, and mini-suns began to appear in the sky. The scene almost reminded him painfully of the time when he overheard Eep stating she was going with Guy- not him.

"I don't want to lose her..."

Ugga put a hand on his cheek, giving him her own sad smile. "You won't lose her; she's always going to be a Crood."

Grug looked down into his lap, recognizing the truth in Ugga's words. She was right; Eep would never stop being a Crood. Even if she crossed into the next world, she'd still be a Crood. Nothing could take that away from her.

"Guess I should be nicer to Guy, huh?" Grug asked slyly. Ugga smiled at him, clasping his large hand in her own.

She laughed quietly. "You probably should, yeah."

"And say I'm sorry?"

Another laugh. "Probably."

Grug sighed, but it was a happier sigh. For once, he felt somewhat relieved with the way things were. He didn't have to constantly fret with the life of hiding and living in fear. He almost felt... free.

"Why does it seem like you're always telling me to say sorry?" Grug asked with a chuckle. He thought back to the last time a similar instance occurred, back in the caves when he was getting up on Eep's ledge, trying to get her to talk when she wasn't willing. Then, too, it was Ugga who made him stop, and attempted to make him apologize.

Ugga smiled, a glint appearing in her hazel eyes. "Because just like its your job to worry, it's mine to fix things."

Grug couldn't help but touch sniffers with his mate, and embracing her in his newest idea- a 'hug'. Her warmth spread to him and underneath the thousand of blinking suns, Grug couldn't feel more at home than he did at the moment.

Apologizing to Guy could wait; he had someone else to tend to.

* * *

_So there we go! Another small one-shot! I admit, these are a bit too short in my opinion, but I suppose they'll get longer with the deeper chapters. So I also noticed a few requests! I greatly thank those ideas, and I'll easily give you credit for the ideas! If you have an account, I'll end up PM'ing you to talk about things, but if you don't, I'll probably just do as good as I can.  
_

_Next chapter (spoiler) introduces a bit of humor, along with the new knowledge of 'bad leftovers'!_

_Also, if I take an idea you gave and spin it to work better, you still get creds, don't worry. _

_That's all for now, enjoy your holiday break if you're on it, and don't forget to review! _


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